Thursday, 18 May 2017

One
of the consistent themes on this blog is about whether political parties should
be leading or merely following public opinion.
The former involves having and setting out a clear vision about the sort
of future they want to see and trying to persuade or lead people to follow; the
latter is more of a beauty contest, with parties saying much the same thing and
arguing about which has the best team to deliver on the popular policies. The second scenario does not necessarily mean
that all policies are identical; there’s still some scope to appeal to
different demographics and groups, but in essence, much of the core will look
essentially similar,and election campaigns will
concentrate on ability to deliver.

In
some ways, this election looks like something of an exception. Jeremy Corbyn seems to be trying to
articulate a different set of values and priorities in a way which Labour has
not really attempted for decades.
Indeed, that is precisely his biggest sin in the eyes of many of his
party’s MPs, who are much more comfortable with the beauty contest style of
politics. The Tories, on the other hand,
seem increasingly prepared to say anything which they think might be popular,
and to concentrate all their efforts on trying to prove that an automaton is
better qualified to implement them than a thoughtful man who actually wants to
consider the facts first.

Here
in Wales, this dichotomy between the two approaches is a particular problem for
Plaid. The party that I joined in 1971
was, unquestionably, a party which had a vision for a different future for
Wales and set out to convince people about that future. The Plaid contesting next month’s general
election seems to be much more in the second camp. The idea that Plaid might actually be better
at defending Wales than the Labour Party has the advantage of probable truth,
but ‘we’re more anti-Tory than Labour’
isn’t much of a vision for the future, and seems to me to be playing to an
interpretation of Welsh politics which is increasingly divergent from contemporary
reality.

At
the core of the party’s appeal for this election is the idea that Plaid is the
only party that will put the interests of Wales ahead of its own interests, yet
that doesn’t always seem to be supported by the detail. According to this report
from BBC Wales’ political editor, Plaid has now accepted that Brexit is
inevitable, and a Plaid insider told him that ‘they felt there were no votes to be gained by re-fighting last year's
battle’. As an assessment of the
probability of garnering votes on this particular issue at this particular
time, I’d agree with that conclusion. It’s
the same problem being faced by the Lib Dems in trying to appeal to voters on
the issue – their promise of a second referendum seems to be making little
impact.

The
question for me, though, is not about whether it would win votes but about
where the best interests of Wales lie.
If someone really believes that the best interests of Wales lie in
membership of the European Union, shouldn’t they be making the case for that
outcome when given the opportunity, even if less than half the population agree
with them? That does not preclude
attempting to influence the nature of any Brexit deal in the interim, nor
seeking to maximise any opportunities which may exist, but it does require
having and presenting a clear vision about what sort of Wales they want to see,
and how they see Wales’ place in the world.

And
that brings us to the question of independence.
For sure, the word is given more prominence than has been the case for
some years now, with a clear statement right on the first page that “It remains our ambition for Wales to become
an independent nation”; but the detail of what independence actually means
in a post-Brexit world is conspicuous by its absence. For decades, the word has been synonymous
with ‘full membership of the EU’; but
for a party accepting Brexit it must now mean something else. And if I, as a long-term independentista, don’t know what that is and am unsure about
supporting it, what chance of convincing the rest of Wales? But then, there are even fewer votes to be
gained by promoting independence than in opposing Brexit - which brings us
right back to the question of what politics should be about.

And your evidence for any of those assertions is...? Silly question, I know - anti-Welsh language prejudice requires no evidence. And, in breach of the usual rule about politicians' statistics, in your case, it seems safe to assume that 100% of them are the result of pure invention.

Once again you choose to shout 'anti Welsh language prejudice' before the discussion has hardly started. It seems this is far more important to you than independence for Wales. And I suspect you are in the clear majority when it comes to other Welsh speakers too.

Until we can nail this matter by full and frank discussion 'the language' issue will continue to halt any march towards independence.You know this and I know this. And we both know that Plaid Cymru is a party for 'the language', not a party in search of independence for Wales.

One of the problems with allowing people to comment on this blog as 'Anonymous' is that it can be difficult to know when I'm dealing with one person or many. Using a name, or even a consistent pseudonym, makes it a lot easier to be certain about whether a comment is a one-off or part of a series. From style and content, I'm assuming that you're one of those who regularly tries to bring the language into any and every subject, and invariably from a negative perspective, and equally invariably by making sweeping and unsubstantiated assertions.

" 'the language' issue will continue to halt any march towards independence.You know this and I know this. You might think that you 'know' this, but the basis for this mysterious 'knowledge' is unclear to me. I certainly do not 'know', or even believe, any such thing.

"And we both know that Plaid Cymru is a party for 'the language', not a party in search of independence for Wales." Again, this 'knowledge' of yours is unsubstantiated. I think that the problem is a rather different one - Plaid Cymru has become a party which is primarily in search of political power within existing institutions and has lost its way, to a significant extent, on both the language question and the issue of independence. I'd agree that there is a perception that Plaid is more about the language than about anything else, and I'd agree that that perception is an obstacle for as long as Plaid is the only, or the main, vehicle in which people place their hopes and aspirations for independence. But that's a long way from what you're saying. And it's also off-topic on this post.

I fear I see no Vision in any of the parties, but again the word Vision is badly misused and confused with Mission and Goals. When you joined Plaid in 1971 – Ah, I remember it well; you could argue that Gwynfor style was based on a Vision that was consistent and forged by his non-conformist chapel upbringing and the principles of Tom Payne. His fight was against the state and its legitimacy and saw all the English parties as guilty of the condition of our country. On the day to day political issues that arose he would throw them against this template and from that he got his mission and goals.You are right Plaid is hawking around to find some or any formula that might work, but don’t expect any vision, because that would demand a Leadership of far higher quality.